New York board game cafe workers win almost two year battle for better pay, protections by ratifying union contract

More than 100 workers from a string of New York board game cafes are celebrating a historic win after ratifying their first union contract, securing pay increases and worker protections almost two years after some of them began pursuing a living wage.

The agreement makes the staff from Hex & Company – the largest board game cafe company in Manhattan – The Brooklyn Strategist and The Uncommons the first to win a tabletop retail union contract in New York City, following nearly 18 months of acrimonious negotiations with cafe owners Jon Freeman and Greg May and their legal counsel.

Employees from the five cafes successfully unionised their workplaces via elections between September and December 2023, becoming Tabletop Workers United, after May and Freeman had refused to voluntarily acknowledge worker unions despite support from the vast majority of staff.

Staff have been fighting for a living wage starting at $22.50 per hour, as well as a transparent path to promotions, and adequate staffing to meet their workload.

That living wage figure was in line with the value given for a single adult with no children in Manhattan by Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator at the time – although MIT’s calculation has since risen to $28.87 as of February this year.

Union organisers said at the start of the unionisation process that barista staff at Hex & Company were earning $12.50 per hour plus tips, while professional DMs for roleplaying games were paid $17 per hour and staff working with children in the afterschool program $16 to $18 per hour, with a few exceptions making $19 per hour.

May and Freeman were accused by Hex&Co workers of “union busting” during the attempt to organise in October 2023, with staff saying the pair were “holding captive audience meetings and working to remove members from the proposed Hex & Co bargaining unit, including managers of the afterschool program”.

The almost 18 months of collective bargaining since February last year have been similarly contentious, with the union blaming the slow pace of proceedings on management belligerence and delays.

In May 2024 Tabletop Workers United accused the owner’s legal counsel, Andrew Hoffman, of telling them to “go to hell”, calling them “disgusting, lower-class morons” and categorising their demands as the “absolute insanity of the woke”.

Rascal News reported that workers walked out and picketed on the Labor Day weekend last year after claiming the owners were again trying to union bust, saying they were changing policies which led to “increased write-ups and discipline”, as well as “bullying workers during negotiations”.

The union announced last October that workers were prepared to strike over the peak holiday season if their demands were not met, but those strike plans were averted in December when staff and the owners agreed to five core non-economic demands.

Unionization efforts by Tabletop Workers United were led in collaboration with Workers United NY/NJ, a joint board of American and Canadian labour union Workers United.

Workers United NY/NJ said a unique component of the contract campaign was the formation of the Tabletop Solidarity Committee – made up of cafe customers – which organized nearly 2,000 customers to take a boycott pledge, raised $15,000 in a strike hardship fund, and took in-store actions to confront ownership.

It said, “The pressure that workers and customers built together forced ownership to negotiate seriously at the table and workers won a full tentative agreement meeting their key demands in May 2025.”

The ratified contract includes progressive pay increases of up to 19%, prioritising workers currently making the least, holiday pay and paid bereavement leave, consistent scheduling, two week notice of schedules, and no scheduling of double shifts or “clopens” – working both closing of the shop and opening the next day – without the consent of the employee.

It also includes health and safety provisions, requiring management to respond effectively to sexual harassment and abusive customers, and includes strong language around gender identity, dignity and respect, just cause, as well as grievance and arbitration processes, the union said.

Payton Millet, a worker at the Brooklyn Strategist, said, “I’m proud and elated that we have won the first contract for tabletop workers in NYC. Our industry is a young and burgeoning one, so it is ever more crucial to secure protections and rights specific to our trade.

“No doubt our strongest weapons in the fight for these rights were our union’s nimbleness, courage to act, and the unwavering solidarity of our customers and friends for which we are deeply thankful.

“I hope that our victory can demonstrate the persistence of truths that some would seek to relegate to the past: that every workplace needs a labor union, that workers of every age, gender and race deserve just protections, and that as long as owners seek to reap value for others’ labor, we must demand back our fair share.”

BoardGameWire has attempted to contact Greg May for comment on the situation, but is yet to receive a response.